“They will provide support at Schiphol. The volunteers will offer stranded travelers a listening ear, welcome them with coffee and tea and provide them with information,” says the spokeswoman. There are currently no large-scale relief efforts with, for example, camp beds and blankets at stations. The organization wants to be able to deploy people quickly if necessary.
“We continuously monitor the situation with the winter weather and see whether it is necessary to relieve the emergency services,” the spokeswoman explains. Volunteers helped the ambulance service locally last week, because many people slipped due to slippery conditions.
‘Heightened state of preparedness’
The Red Cross asked all regional branches tonight to ‘be on a heightened state of readiness.’
This is done as a precaution, because the aid organization does not rule out that it will be necessary to help stranded travelers, for example.